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Buy-Rated Pit Stops Along I-95

Written by: Richard Suttmeier06/27/13 - 8:24 AM EDT

Tickers in this article:
BKW BOBE CBRL DENN DRI EAT KKD MCD SBUX YUM

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- When you travel on I-95 from Florida to New Jersey you pass many major interchanges where casual dinning restaurants and fast food chains are vying for your coffee and food dollars.

When you want coffee and a quick breakfast your choices include buy-rated Burger King and buy-rated McDonald's. Being creatures of habit my wife and I choose McDonald's, me for a medium coffee and a sausage and egg biscuit, and my wife for an egg McMuffin and iced coffee mocha.

Only a few exits on I-95 have buy rated Starbucks, but even so I prefer McDonald's coffee.

There are three buy rated sit down restaurants for breakfast, lunch or dinner, Bob EvansCracker Barrel and Denny's, but we choose the fast food route when on the road. These three eateries are usually at larger interchanges where they rely on local patronage.

On our overnight stops we consider dining at one of these three buy-rated restaurant chains. Our favorite is Darden Restaurants' Olive Garden, which caters to a mix of travelers and local patrons. Another good choice is Brinker's Chili's. A bit more casual are the offerings from YUM! Brands which include Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut.

At any pit stop for gasoline along the way north or back south you can munch on a donut from buy rated Krispy Kreme.

This morning the U.S. stock market remains under a ValuEngine valuation warning with 68.6% of all stocks overvalued, 31.3% overvalued by 20% or more. We still show that 15 of 16 sectors are overvalued, 12 by double-digit percentages including today's featured retail-wholesale sector, which is overvalued by 21.5%. The food and restaurant industry 30.6% overvalued.

Now that you know where and what to eat on a trip along I 95, it's time to pull over and check out my recipe for how to buy-and-trade these buy-rated stocks.

Among the ten buy rated food and restaurant stocks in today's table, only one Krispy Kreme is undervalued. Eight stocks gained by 10.9% to 182.2% over the last 12 months with only Darden slipping fractionally. The projected gains over the next 12 months range from 5.6% to 9.0%. The 12-month trailing price-to-earnings ratios appear elevated between 15.8 to 34.0. Only Darden is trading below its 200-day simple moving average.